North Carolina has two deep water ports that handle ocean-going vessels. Both are owned and operated by the State Ports Authority. The Port of Wilmington offers facilities to handle containerized, bulk and break-bulk cargoes. That port currently is dredged to a 42-foot channel depth, which allows additional vessel capacity. The port has direct access to Interstates 95 and 40, and daily train service from CSX.
The 45-foot channel at the Port of Morehead City makes it one of the deepest ports on the U.S. east coast. This port is located four miles from the ocean bar, and handles break-bulk and bulk cargo with access to Interstates 95 and 40 via U.S. Highways 70 and 17 and daily train service from Norfolk Southern. Across the Newport River is state-owned Radio Island, a prime site for development. Trends in tonnage shipped from Morehead City and Wilmington Ports are shown in Tables 7 and 8.
| Table 7. Tonnage Trend at Morehead City Port | |||
Year |
Break-bulk |
Bulk |
Total |
1995 |
91,301 |
2,227,901 |
2,319,284 |
1996 |
324,647 |
2,542,686 |
2,867,333 |
1997 |
319,088 |
2,635,301 |
2,954,389 |
1998 |
292,989 |
2,400,198 |
2,693,187 |
1999 |
190,868 |
2,366,180 |
2,557,048 |
2000 |
185,236 |
2,436,683 |
2,621,919 |
2001 |
240,203 |
2,516,973 |
2,757,176 |
2002 |
213,583 |
1,294,005 |
1,507,588 |
2003 |
243,574 |
1,296,618 |
1,540,692 |
2004 |
214,948 |
2,000,643 |
2,215,591 |
| Table 8. Tonnage Trend at the Wilmington Port | ||||
Year |
Break-bulk |
Container |
Bulk |
Total |
1995 |
892,042 |
724,339 |
542,968 |
2,159,349 |
1996 |
795,817 |
721,879 |
600,931 |
2,118,627 |
1997 |
827,725 |
772,609 |
630,698 |
2,231,032 |
1998 |
675,283 |
691,479 |
790,771 |
2,157,533 |
1999 |
731,944 |
694,950 |
929,855 |
2,356,749 |
2000 |
798,139 |
633,651 |
794,918 |
2,226,708 |
2001 |
844,052 |
600,014 |
768,376 |
2,212,442 |
2002 |
1,001,728 |
628,800 |
490,929 |
2,121,457 |
2003 |
976,082 |
613,923 |
630,799 |
2,220,804 |
2004 |
1,054,214 |
624,170 |
648,381 |
2,326,765 |
Over the past ten years, a yearly average of approximately 800 ships and barges have called on the Port at Morehead City and approximately 525 ships and barges have called on the Port at Wilmington. More than 80 percent of marine traffic at Morehead has been barge traffic, with destinations being north or south on the Intercoastal Waterway. Approximately 60 percent of marine traffic at Wilmington has been ocean-going ships. Currently, approximately 100,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units - Containers) are moved at the Port at Wilmington annually.
North Carolina has the second largest state-owned ferry system in the nation, with 25 vessels carrying 2.4 million passengers and 1.1 million vehicles annually on seven currently operating routes. These routes are shown in Figure 23. Route number 2 from Currituck to Corolla is not yet in service in mid-2005 due to the lack of docking facilities. Crossing times for each operating route are shown in Table 9. In addition to these public ferries that operate in the North Carolina Sounds, recreational boating is very popular in the Old North State. In addition to these publicly owned vessels operated by the State Ferry Division, there are an additional 16 private ferry companies operating in the inner sound areas that are regulated by the North Carolina Utilities Division. Most of these ferries are for passenger travel only.
| Table 9. Duration of Crossings and Number of Ferries per Day | ||
| Ferry | Crossing Time | No. of Crossings/Day (Peak Season) |
| 1. Currituck-Knotts Island | 45 minutes | 6 |
| 2. Currituck – Corolla | N/A | Not currently operating |
| 3. Hatteras-Ocracoke | 45 minutes | 33 |
| 4. Ocracoke-Swan Quarter | 2.5 hours | 3 |
| 5. Ocracoke -Cedar Island | 2.25 hours | 12 |
| 6. Bayview-Aurora | 30 minutes | 11 |
| 7. Cherry Branch-Minnesott | 20 minutes | 37 |
| 8. Southport-Fort Fisher | 30 minutes | 21 |
| Source: US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Toll Facilities in the United States: Bridges-Roads-Tunnels-Ferries | ||
The North Carolina State Ferry System is in itself a tourist attraction. Approximately 4 million people go to a large number of North Carolina beaches, sounds, and other coastal areas, particularly in the summer months but also in the fall for major sport fishing. Another aspect of water travel across the State is recreational boating. Trends in recreational boat registrations are shown in Figure 24.
Boating is not the only mode of travel related to recreation and tourism, of course. Integrated into the fabric of the state’s various modes are travel destinations and associated economic impacts attributable to travel and tourism. Tourism is an increasingly important part of the state’s economy, ranking in the top ten sectors of the economy in overall economic impact. Another chapter in this Atlas web site addresses Travel and Tourism in some detail, so this chapter on Transportation only mentions briefly some statistics concerning transportation, travel and tourism. Personal vehicle travel accounts for 84 percent of recreational and tourist travel in North Carolina. Air travel accounts for 10 percent, including leisure, recreation, touring, etc. A surprising number of visitors to coastal areas travel through on the Intercoastal Waterway, which runs the length of the coastal area from Southport in the south to the Virginia border in Currituck Sound, just north of the village of Currituck. A significant number of visitors arrive by tour buses, both from originations inside the state and from outside. In 2004, over $13 billion dollars were spent statewide on tourism.
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